One of the common themes of these season is the inculcation of a winning mentality at City. And one of the main manifestations of such a mentality is the routine home win. It's what makes the hegemony of the big four so powerful and so self-perpetuating; the presumption that home wins in the league are the norm, that defeats are not just a shame but an aberration. So it's a real prerequisite of a successful Premier League campaign this year and for years to come.
It's good news then that it's already a strong area for us. Only Manchester United won more Premier League games at home last year - we won thirteen and they sixteen. And many of those wins: West Ham, Portsmouth, Stoke, Hull, Newcastle, Villa, Sunderland, Blackburn and Bolton all passed with the ease one would associate with a big four side.
This season we've had a decent start in this regard: a win against Wolves that was harder than it ought to have been, and a dramatic defeat of Arsenal which we could have lost. No one would quibble with the six points but at some point we need to regain the breezy inevitability of last season. What we need is a routine win. And West Ham could well be the team to provide it. They're quite a good team who play some quite good football. But with the quality we now have a win should be within us.
It will be interesting to see if Stephen Ireland makes the team tomorrow - if not we could see a start for Martin Petrov on the left with Craig Bellamy moved up front in a 4-2-4, or even Roque Santa Cruz up front if he's sufficiently fit. So it could be interesting. Prediction? A comfortable 2-0.
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i think everyone is being a little too confident with this one, i'm sure we will win but it's not going to be clear cut.
we showed signs against fulham how wasteful we can be in possession, and that we can be hit on the break due to our defencive frailties.
west ham will come with that in mind, they'll try and hold us off for as long as they can and then hit us where it hurts.
so maybe 1-0 or 2-1, and i wouldn't walk out of the ground stunned if this was a draw!
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